Systems, methods, and computer-readable media for generating a memorial product

ABSTRACT

Systems, methods, and computer-readable media for generating memorial products using a memorial product design and ordering system (the “design system”). The design system may generally be configured to provide users with a platform, tools, design elements, automated processes, and/or the like for designing, customizing and ordering memorial products. The design system may be configured to present users with graphical or virtual representations of physical memorial products (“virtual product templates”) that may be customized by specifying product characteristics and adding various design elements. In some embodiments, the virtual product templates may be and/or may include photo-realistic and/or three-dimensional (3D) representations of the actual physical memorial products. In this manner, the design system may be configured to provide a customer with a realistic user experience from a virtual and/or online design tool.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No.61/870,731, filed on Aug. 27, 2013, and U.S. Provisional Application No.61/954,491, filed on Mar. 17, 2014, the contents of which areincorporated by reference in their entirety as if fully set forthherein.

BACKGROUND

The process for ordering memorialization and architectural products,such as plaques, signage, grave markers, or the like remains largely amanual process. In general, customers fill out paper order forms at thepremises of a vendor and/or mail or fax completed order forms to amanufacturer. This process, for both vendor and customer, is tedious anderror-prone and often causes the vendor to miss out on salesopportunities. Technological advances have introduced computer forms andweb-based interfaces for entering customer orders. However, these stillrequire a customer to make numerous selections and to navigate throughseveral, if not all, pages of options in order to view choices that maybe of interest. As such, computer-based ordering systems remaininefficient and do not operate to actually enhance sales for vendors.Accordingly, a system that allows a customer to effectively accessdesign choices of interest and to customize a product would greatlybenefit the memorialization and architectural products industries.

SUMMARY

This disclosure is not limited to the particular systems, devices andmethods described, as these may vary. The terminology used in thedescription is for the purpose of describing the particular versions orembodiments only, and is not intended to limit the scope.

As used in this document, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the”include plural references unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.Unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used hereinhave the same meanings as commonly understood by one of ordinary skillin the art. Nothing in this disclosure is to be construed as anadmission that the embodiments described in this disclosure are notentitled to antedate such disclosure by virtue of prior invention. Asused in this document, the term “comprising” means “including, but notlimited to.”

In an embodiment, a system for generating a memorial product may includea processor and a non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium inoperable communication with the processor. The computer-readable storagemedium may contain one or more programming instructions that, whenexecuted, cause the processor to receive subject information andcustomer information, generate at least one virtual memorial productbased on the subject information and the customer information, the atleast one virtual memorial product comprising at least one memorialproduct template and at least one virtual design element selected basedon the subject information and the customer information, and generate anorder for a memorial product based on the at least one virtual memorialproduct.

In an embodiment, a system for generating a memorial product may includea processor and a non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium inoperable communication with the processor. The computer-readable storagemedium may contain one or more programming instructions that, whenexecuted, cause the processor to generate a virtual memorial product inresponse to receiving a memorial product template selection from aclient logic device, add at least one virtual design element to thevirtual memorial product using at least one design function in responseto receiving at least one design element selection from the client logicdevice, wherein the at least one design function comprises at least oneof a snap-to-grid design function, a target location design function, acollision detection design function, and a placeholder design function,and generate an order for a memorial product based on the at least onevirtual memorial product.

In an embodiment, a system for generating a memorial product may includea processor and a non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium inoperable communication with the processor. The computer-readable storagemedium may contain one or more programming instructions that, whenexecuted, cause the processor to receive subject information, andgenerate at least one virtual memorial product based on the subjectinformation, the at least one virtual memorial product comprising atleast one memorial product template and at least one design elementselected based on the subject information.

In an embodiment, a system for generating a memorial product may includea processor and a non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium inoperable communication with the processor. The computer-readable storagemedium may contain one or more programming instructions that, whenexecuted, cause the processor to generate a virtual memorial product inresponse to receiving a memorial product template selection from aclient logic device, and add at least one design element to the virtualmemorial product using at least one design function in response toreceiving at least one design element selection from the client logicdevice, wherein the at least one design function comprises at least oneof a snap-to-grid design function, a target location design function, acollision detection design function, and a placeholder design function.

In an embodiment, a system for generating a memorial product may includea processor and a non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium inoperable communication with the processor. The computer-readable storagemedium may contain one or more programming instructions that, whenexecuted, cause the processor to receive product information defining atleast one memorial product, and generate at least one virtual memorialproduct template based on the product information, the at least onevirtual memorial product template being configured to graphically depictthe at least one memorial product.

In an embodiment, a computer-readable storage medium havingcomputer-readable program code configured for generating a memorialproduct embodied therewith may include computer-readable program codeconfigured to receive subject information and generate at least onevirtual memorial product based on the subject information, the at leastone virtual memorial product comprising at least one memorial producttemplate and at least one virtual design element selected based on thesubject information.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objects of the present invention will become morereadily apparent from the following detailed description taken inconnection with the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 depicts an illustrative memorial product design system accordingto some embodiments.

FIG. 2 depicts a memorial design interface of a design system accordingto an embodiment.

FIG. 3 depicts an illustrative design system according to someembodiments.

FIG. 4 depicts an illustrative subject information interface and apre-configured virtual memorial product according to an embodiment.

FIG. 5 depicts a customer account access interface and a customeraccount interface according to an embodiment.

FIGS. 6-22 depict various illustrative user interfaces for a designsystem according to some embodiments.

FIG. 23 illustrates various embodiments of a computing device forimplementing the various methods and processes described herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The described technology generally relates to systems, methods andcomputer-readable media for generating memorial products. In general, amemorial product design and ordering system (the “design system”) may beconfigured to provide users with a platform, tools, design elements,automated processes, and/or the like for designing, customizing andordering memorial products. The design system may be configured topresent users with graphical or virtual representations of physicalmemorial products (“virtual product templates”) that may be customizedby specifying product characteristics and adding various design elements(“virtual design elements”). In some embodiments, the virtual producttemplates may be and/or may include photo-realistic and/orthree-dimensional (3D) representations of the actual physical memorialproducts. In this manner, the design system may be configured to providea customer with a realistic user experience from a virtual and/or onlinedesign tool.

In some embodiments, the design system may receive informationassociated with a user, potential order, customer, subject, patron, or acombination thereof and may automatically generate a virtual producttemplate that includes certain product characteristics and/or designelements selected based on the information associated with a user,potential order, customer, subject, patron, or combination thereof. Thedesign system may include accounts or user profiles for certain users.The accounts may be associated with certain user information, such asinformation pertaining to user identification, location, preferences,product types, account type, and/or the like. In an embodiment, usersmay access the design system through a user-specific access interfaceand may be presented with virtual product templates, design elements,design tools, and/or the like specified based on their associated userinformation.

The design system described according to some embodiments providesmultiple technological advantages and technical effects on processes andtechniques, including processes and techniques external to the designsystem. Using conventional techniques, designing and ordering memorialproducts is primarily a manual process. For example, purchasers may lookat products and design features separately in catalogs or throughdigital images. However, the purchasers generally are not able tomanipulate the images nor view the combination of memorial products anddesign elements (for example, a particular border and finish on aparticular headstone). Accordingly, purchasers are not able toadequately realize what the finished product will actually look like. Inaddition, purchasers are not able to directly manipulate, change, orotherwise modify memorial products during the creation and orderingprocess. One non-limiting technological advantage and technical effectof the design system according to some embodiments is that the designsystem may allow purchasers to view dynamic, realistic representationsof memorial products with design elements in substantially real-time. Incontrast, conventional techniques only allow for the visualization ofstatic images of products and design elements. Another non-limitingtechnological advantage and technical effect of the design systemaccording to some embodiments is that the design system may allowpurchasers to modify the design of the memorial product in substantiallyreal time. For instance, a purchaser may select a memorial product andview different finishes, symbols, or other design elements on thememorial product simultaneously and in substantially real-time. Afurther non-limiting technological advantage and technical effect of thedesign system according to some embodiments is that the design systemmay provide insightful recommendations for memorial products and/ordesign information based on certain information, such as subjectinformation (for instance, the subject of the memorial product, such asthe deceased for a grave marker), customer information (for instance, acemetarian or funeral director), purchaser information, or the like, orcombinations thereof. In this manner, the design system according tosome embodiments may operate to improve the memorial product designprocess by making the process more efficient, accurate, andcost-effective and may improve the user experience of purchasersdesigning and ordering memorial products.

FIG. 1 depicts an illustrative memorial product design system accordingto some embodiments. As shown in FIG. 1, a memorial product designsystem (“design system”) 100 may include one or more computing devices105 a-105 n, such as server computing devices, arranged in a network.The one or more computing devices 105 a-105 n may generally include aprocessor, a non-transitory memory or other storage device for housingprogramming instructions, data or information regarding one or moreapplications, and other hardware, including, for example, the centralprocessing unit (CPU) 2305, read only memory (ROM) 2310, random accessmemory 2315, communication ports 2340, controller 2320, and/or memorydevice 2325 depicted in FIG. 23 and described below in referencethereto.

According to some embodiments, the programming instructions may includea design application configured to design a memorial product asdescribed in more detail below. The design application may be accessiblethrough various platforms, including, without limitation, a clientapplication, a web-based application, an Internet-based application,and/or a mobile application (for example, a “mobile app” or “app”).

The design system 100 may communicate with customers 110 a-110 n,manufacturers 115 a-115 n, or any other type of user through the designapplication using various logic devices 125 a-125 n (client logicdevices or client computing devices), including, but not limited to, anylogic and/or computing device now known or developed in the future, suchas a server, a personal computer (PC), a laptop computer, a notebookcomputer, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a tablet computing device,a kiosk computing system, a smartphone, and/or the like. In someembodiments, the design system 100 may include and/or may be incommunication with enterprise and/or business analytics software,including, without limitation, the SAP® family of software provided bySAP® AG of Walldorf, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany, the Websphere® familyof software provided by the International Business Machines Corporation,and/or any configuration or design application associated therewith. Insuch embodiments, information used and/or generated through the designsystem 100 may be retrieved from and/or stored through the enterpriseand/or business analytics software. In some embodiments, the designsystem 100 may be configured to communicate with and/or be integratedwith various design tools, such as manufacturer design tools and/orcustomer design tools, including, without limitation, software designtools, computer-implemented design tools, manufacturing devices andequipment, or any combination thereof.

The logic devices 125 a-125 n may communicate with the design system 100using various wired and/or wireless communication platforms known tothose having ordinary skill in the art or developed in the future, suchas Ethernet (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)802.3, and/or the like), Wi-Fi (for example, IEEE 802.11g, 802.11n,and/or the like), local area network (LAN), wide area network (WAN),serial, plain old telephone system (POTS), third generation mobiletelecommunications technology (3G), fourth generation mobiletelecommunications technology (4G), long-term evolution mobiletelecommunications technology (LTE), satellite communications, and anycombination thereof.

Customers 110 a-110 n (or other users) may interact with the designapplication to, among other things, design virtual memorial products andto order memorial products based on the virtual memorial products. In anembodiment, at least a portion of the information and/or modules (seeFIG. 3) required for operation of the design application may be storedon a logic device 125 a-125 n such that the design application, or aclient version thereof, may be used in an “offline” mode. The designapplication may generate storage objects for storing informationassociated with virtual memorial products designed by customers 110a-110 n. The storage objects may have various forms, including, withoutlimitation, electronic files, image files, audio files, multimediafiles, databases, database records, word processing files, spreadsheetfiles, and/or the like. Memorial products designed and ordered bycustomers 110 a-110 n may be transmitted as storage objects, eitherthrough the design system 100 or through the customers directly, tomanufacturers 115 a-115 n that will produce a physical memorial productbased, at least partially, on information included in the virtualmemorial product.

For example, a customer 110 a-110 n may design a virtual memorialproduct in the form of a plaque having various text and images using thedesign application. The virtual memorial product may be saved by thedesign system, for example and without limitation, as a bitmap file oras a bitmap file and an associated extensible markup language (XML)file. The bitmap file may be transmitted over the Internet to amanufacturer 115 a-115 n along with certain order information, such as acustomer name, a shipping address, and payment information. Themanufacturer 115 a-115 n may produce the plaque based on the virtualmemorial product produced by the customer 110 a-110 n and may ship theplaque to the address specified in the order information. In someembodiments, the design system may save the virtual memorial product inany form capable of being read, processed, managed, or otherwise used bya computing system known to those having ordinary skill in the art ordeveloped in the future, including proprietary file and/or data formatsused by various manufacturers.

In an embodiment, the design application may be configured to generatevarious three-dimensional (3D) virtual memorial products based on avirtual memorial product created by a customer 110 a-110 n. For example,the design application may include and/or may access various softwaremodules, applications, or the like configured to use the informationassociated with the virtual memorial product (including two-dimensional(2D) information) to generate a 3D image thereof. The 3D image may beused by the customer to further customize the virtual memorial product(or to “shop” using the design system 100), to share (for example,through the Internet, such as through a social networking service), orany other use consistent with some embodiments of the design system. The3D image files may include any type of 3D file types now know to thosehaving ordinary skill in the art or developed in the future, including,without limitation, *.3d, *.3d2, *.3d4, *.3da, *.3df, *.cmf, *.crf,*.des, *.fbx, *.p3d, *.p3l, *.p3m, *.p3r. In another embodiment, thedesign system 100 may be in operable communication with a 3D printingdevice configured to print a 3D solid object based on a virtual memorialproduct created by a customer 110 a-110 n within the design system.

In an embodiment, the design system 100 may be in communication withvarious third-party resources 120 that may be used by the designapplication for various functions. For instance, the third-partyresources 120 may include external databases that may provide designelements, text, information, and/or the like. In another instance, thethird-party resources 120 may include various software applications,including Internet services, such as multimedia services, socialnetworking services, e-commerce services, payment processing services,shipping services, manufacturer websites, customer websites, informationstorage systems, and/or the like.

In an embodiment, various components of the design system 100 may beoperated by and/or hosted by an operator on behalf of an entity thatcommercially sells the memorial products (the “memorial productvendor”). For example, an Internet-based, cloud-based and/or informationtechnology (IT) entity may operate and/or host some or all aspects ofthe design system 100 on behalf of the memorial product vendor that isselling the physical memorial products to customers 110 a-110 n.

FIG. 2 depicts a memorial design interface of a design system accordingto an embodiment. As shown in FIG. 2, a display component 205 maypresent a memorial design interface 210 implemented through the designapplication. The display component 205 may be operably coupled to one ormore logic devices, such as logic devices 125 a-125 n. The memorialdesign interface 210 may include various graphical user interface (GUI)design objects 215 a-215 e configured to allow a user to design avirtual memorial product 220 that represents a physical memorial productthat can be produced based on the virtual memorial product.

A memorial product may include various articles manufactured to beornamental, decorative, architectural, commemorative, patterned,celebrative, identifying, and/or the like. Non-limiting examples ofmemorial products may include grave markers, headstones, urns, vases,plaques, medals, trophies, awards, sculptures, statues, signs, pictures,displays, scrolls, granite, niche plates, crypt plates, urns, caskets,and any combination thereof. The memorial product may include variousmaterials, including stone, wood, metal, plastic, glass, preciousstones, electronic elements, and any combination thereof. In someembodiments, the memorial product may include a bronze memorial product.In some embodiments, the bronze memorial product may include a castbronze memorial product, such as a cast bronze plaque, grave marker, orthe like. In some embodiments, the memorial product may include abronze, cast bronze, or non-bronze memorial product produced and/or soldby Matthews® International Corporation of Pittsburgh, Pa., UnitedStates. In some embodiments, a memorial product may be configured torepresent, symbolize, celebrate, commemorate, or otherwise memorialize alife or entity (for example, a corporation, a municipality, or the like)event, including, without limitation, an anniversary, a wedding, abirth, a death, an award, and a dedication.

In an embodiment, certain of the GUI design objects 215 a-215 c mayinclude various design application menu selection options, including,without limitation, project and/or file manipulation functions (forexample, create new, open, import, close, properties, edit, and/or thelike), navigation functions, ordering functions (for example, check out,catalog access, shopping cart, and/or the like), virtual memorialproduct save functions (for example, save, save as, save as a particularfile type(s), export, and/or the like), and/or the like. In anembodiment, certain of the GUI design objects 215 a-215 c may includevarious memorial product selection options, including, withoutlimitation, selecting the type and or characteristics of the memorialproduct such as layout, text, design elements, signatures (for example,a digital copy of a signature), images (for example, cameos, digitalimages, photographs, and/or the like), colors, borders, edging,accessories (for example, a vase for a grave marker, including anembedded vase), add-ons, adornments, decorations, fixtures, ornaments,and/or the like.

The design application may present various customization windows 215 d,215 e responsive to selection of a GUI design object 215 a-215 c. Thecustomization windows 215 d, 215 e may be configured to allow for theselection of various design elements and/or design characteristics. Forexample, a “text” customization window 215 d, 215 e may be presentedresponsive to selection of a GUI design object 215 a-215 c, such as acorresponding “text” GUI design object. The text customization window215 d, 215 e may be configured to provide various graphical objects forentering text to include on the virtual memorial product 220 (such asdesign elements 225 d-225 f) and/or to specify characteristics of thetext such as font, size, color, outline, effects (for example, shadoweffects), specialized fonts and/or characters (such as Hebrew, Greek,Chinese, Japanese, or the like), any combination thereof, and/or thelike. In another example, a “product type” customization window 215 d,215 e may allow for the selection of the type of memorial product as thememorial product template of the virtual memorial product 220, such asgrave markers, headstones, urns, vases, plaques, medals, trophies,awards, sculptures, statues, signs, pictures, displays, or anycombination thereof.

In a further example, a “design elements” customization window 215 d,215 e may allow for the selection of various design elements 225 a-225 fthat may be included on the virtual memorial product 220. The designelements (or “virtual design elements”) 225 a-225 f may include any typeof graphical and/or textual element that may be included on a memorialproduct. Illustrative and non-restrictive examples of design elements225 a-225 f may include text (for example, names, dates, inscriptions,verses, phrases, quotes, poems, and/or the like), images (for example,photographs, pictures, cameos, and/or the like), emblems (for example,civic or military emblems), logos, symbols, religious symbols, symbolsof affiliation, signatures (for example, an image based on a digitalcopy of a signature), ornaments, patterns, designs, colors, textures,electronic device- and/or computer-readable elements (for example, aquick response (QR) code, a bar code, a radio-frequency identification(RFID) element, augmented reality apps, global positioning systemelements, invisible ink, optical ink, Touchcode, and/or the like), andany combination thereof.

The design elements 225 a-225 f may be added to a virtual memorialproduct 220, edited, or otherwise manipulated using various designfunctions. For example, in some embodiments, the design elements 225a-225 f may be added to a virtual memorial product 220 using a“snap-to-grid” design function, a “snap-to-object” design function,and/or any other function which generally aligns, positions, “snaps,” orotherwise assists in accurately and efficiently placing design elements225 a-225 f on the virtual memorial product. In some embodiments, adesign element may be aligned (or “snapped”) to one or more objects orlocations, such as previously placed design elements (for example, to bealigned therewith) and/or gridlines associated with the virtual memorialproduct 220 and/or the design elements 225 a-225 f.

In some embodiments, the design elements 225 a-225 f may include aplaceholder design function configured to represent an object that isnot in the design system (i.e., not included in a system design elementinventory) and/or cannot be represented in the design system using aplaceholder element. When selecting a placeholder element, a user mayprovide various characteristics, such as a name, description, shape,size, color, or the like. In this manner, the design system may generatea placeholder element that is configured to approximate the actualobject that the placeholder element represents. The placeholder elementmay be used as a placeholder until the time that the object may be addedto the available design elements 225 a-225 f and/or the manufacturercreates the physical memorial product using the actual objectrepresented by the placeholder. For example, the placeholder element maybe selected to represent an emblem from a particular group that is notin a catalogue or population of available design elements 225 a-225 f,such as a crest emblem. A user may select the placeholder element, enterinformation associated with the crest emblem, and place the placeholderelement on the virtual memorial product 220 as a design element 225a-225 f.

In some embodiments, the design application may be configured todetermine various target locations for the placement of a design element225 a-225 f on the virtual memorial product 220 through a targetlocation design function. The target locations may be based on variousfactors, including, without limitation, customary placement locations,templates, the placement of other design elements 225 a-225 f, or anycombination thereof. In some embodiments, when a user selects a designelement 225 a-225 f, a target location may appear on the virtualmemorial product 220 signifying to the user where the design element 225a-225 f may be placed (for example, suggested placement locations)and/or is able to be placed (for example, available areas based on theconfiguration of the virtual memorial product 220 and/or the designelement 225 a-225 f). For example, a user may select to add ahandwritten signature design element 225 a-225 f to a grave marker. Thedesign application may provide one or more target locations on thevirtual memorial product 220 for the grave marker, for example, throughshading/coloring target areas of the grave marker, providing targetsymbols, presenting the grave marker with the digital signature in oneor more target locations, any combination thereof, or the like. Forexample, a target location for the handwritten signature may bedetermined based on the size and/or shape of the handwritten signaturebecause the handwritten signature may only fit in certain locations. Inanother example, a target location may be displayed that providescustomary locations for placement of the handwritten signature, forinstance, based on historical data, user-provided instructions, and/orcustomer specified locations.

In some embodiments, the design application may provide a collisiondetection design function configured to prevent “collisions” or touchingof design elements 225 a-225 f and/or to ensure that there is adequatespace between design elements 225 a-225 f placed on a virtual memorialproduct 220. In some embodiments, when a user places a design element225 a-225 f on a virtual memorial product 220, the collision detectiondesign function may monitor for any potential collision between thedesign element being placed on the virtual memorial product and anydesign elements previously placed on the virtual memorial product. Insome embodiments, a collision may include the touching or overlapping ofdesign elements 225 a-225 f, design elements being within a thresholddistance of each other, and/or a portion of a design element being offof the virtual memorial product 220.

In some embodiments, a “memorial product characteristics” customizationwindow 215 d, 215 e may allow for the selection of a memorial producttemplate (for example, the graphical representation of the memorialproduct base) and/or various characteristics of the memorial product,including, without limitation, physical characteristics. Non-limitingexamples of characteristics include, borders, edging, texture, materialtype, material quality, dimensions, size, weight, orientation, finishes,coatings, and/or the like.

Embodiments are not limited to the GUI design objects 215 a-215 c,customization windows 215 d, 215 e and/or the form and/or arrangementthereof as depicted in FIG. 2 as these are for illustrative purposesonly. For instance, any form of GUI design object 215 a-215 c and/orcustomization window 215 d, 215 e capable of operating the designapplication and/or designing a memorial product according to someembodiments is contemplated herein.

As shown in FIG. 2, a user may create a virtual memorial product 220through the memorial design interface 210. For example, a user mayaccess the memorial design interface 210 and create a new project,including selecting a type of memorial product and variouscharacteristics thereof. The design application may present the userwith a virtual memorial product 220 on the memorial design interface210. Through the GUI design objects 215 a-215 c and the customizationwindows 215 d, 215 e, the user may step through the design process byadding design elements to the virtual memorial product 220 (by placingthem on the memorial product template), customizing the design elements,and customizing characteristics of the memorial product. The user maysave the virtual memorial product 220 as a storage object and may orderthe memorial product. The storage object may be accessed by an entity,such as the memorial product vendor and/or a manufacturer 115 a-115 n,to produce the physical memorial product. The virtual memorial product220 may be manipulated by the user through various tools provided withinthe design system 100, including, without limitation, through thememorial design interface 210. For example, a user may turn, rotate, orotherwise change the spatial orientation of the virtual memorial product220. In another example, a user may zoom in and/or out of the virtualmemorial product 220 to see the virtual memorial product at various zoomlevels. Such a zoom function may allow a user to see every inch of thevirtual memorial product 220 in detail.

In some embodiments, the memorial design interface 210 may be configuredto present the virtual memorial product 220 within the actual oranticipated placement location. In this manner, virtual memorial product220 may be displayed to a user depicting how the physical memorialproduct may look in the actual placement location. In some embodiments,the design application may have access to particular placement locationsand/or general representations of placement locations. For example, thedesign application may access various maps and/or graphical images for acemetery depicting cemetery plots. In another example, the designapplication may access generic images that depict typical placementlocations. As such, the memorial design interface 210 may show a userhow a virtual memorial product 220 may look in the particular placementlocation and/or a generic placement location. In this manner, a customermay be able to get a sense of the size, aesthetics, or the like for thephysical memorial product when it is actually installed.

A user may include various types of customers of the operator ormemorial product vendor, described above, of the design system 100. Forinstance, a customer may be a direct purchaser of a memorial product. Inanother instance, the customer may include an entity purchasing amemorial product on behalf of a patron. For example, the customer mayinclude a funeral services business or cemetarian purchasing a gravemarker on behalf of a patron of the funeral services. Although a funeralservices business may be used as an example herein, embodiments are notso limited, as the design system 100 and the various functions andfeatures thereof may be used for any industry, business, or the like,capable of operating according to some embodiments, such as thecremation industry and the architectural products industry.

FIG. 3 depicts an illustrative design system according to someembodiments. As shown in FIG. 3, a design system 300 may access, manage,use, or otherwise interact with various information sources 310 a-310 hto generate virtual memorial products, process orders, and/or the like.A customer information source 310 a may include information (“customerinformation”) about customers that design and/or order memorial productsusing the design system 300. Information in the customer informationsource 310 a may include a name, an address, a business type, customeraccount numbers, usernames, passwords, approved product types, approvedproduct designs, memorial product design historical data, memorialproduct order historical data, financial information, order statuses,affiliated businesses, sales territory, and/or any other type ofinformation associated with a customer that may be used to design and/ororder a memorial product. According to some embodiments, sales territoryinformation may include geographical sales information, regional salesinformation, and/or installation locations of purchased memorialproducts, such as businesses and/or educational institutions for a signmanufacturer customer or cemeteries for a funeral services customer. Insome embodiments, a customer may include an owner or operator of acemetery (a “cemetarian”), funeral home, or other death servicesindustry entity (i.e., a customer of a memorial product manufacturer).As such, the customer may not be the end purchaser of a memorialproduct. For example, the customer may purchase the memorial productfrom a manufacturer and may sell the memorial product to a patron of thecustomer.

Patron information 310 b may include any information about patrons, forinstance, that are the actual end-purchaser of a memorial product. Ingeneral, a patron may be a relative or loved one of a deceasedpurchasing a memorial product to memorialize the deceased (for instance,a gravestone or funeral marker). The patron may purchase the memorialproduct through a customer, such as a cemetarian or a funeral director.In some embodiments, the patron may design and purchase a memorialproduct directly from a memorial product manufacturer without goingthrough a customer. For instance, the patron may access the designapplication through their own logic device to design and order amemorial product. In some embodiments in which the patron purchasesdirectly from the memorial product manufacture, the patron may beconsidered as the customer (for instance, the patron is the customer).In such embodiments, the patron information 310 b and the customerinformation 310 a may overlap or include substantially the sameinformation. In some embodiments in which the patron purchases directlyfrom the memorial product manufacture, the patron may be affiliated witha customer (for example, may provide information as to an associatedcustomer, including a funeral home or cemetery where the memorialproduct may be installed or otherwise handled). In such embodiments, thepatron and the customer (for instance, cemetarian or funeral home), andinformation associated therewith, may be treated as separate entitiesalthough the patron is accessing the system as a customer.

The patron information 310 b may include demographic information (forexample, a name, an address, an age, deceased/living, a birth date, adeath date, income information, a religion, a gender, educationinformation, relationships, and/or the like), preferences, historicalorder information, and/or the like. Order information 310 c may includeinformation about present and/or past orders, including memorial producttype, design elements, price, order date, delivery information, status,payment information, installation location, and/or the like.

Product information 310 d may include any information about availablememorial products that may be used by the design application to generatevirtual memorial products. For instance, the product information 310 dmay include pricing information, dimensions, weight, materials, andavailable characteristics, such as finishes, borders, edges, designelements, coatings, colors, and restrictions. Certain memorial productsmay be associated with restrictions as the memorial products and/orcharacteristics thereof may not be available to all customers and/or inall locations. For instance, certain design elements may not be possiblein combination with certain materials, finishes, coatings, and/or thelike. In another instance, certain memorial products, characteristicsthereof and/or design elements may not be available to all customers, asdescribed in more detail below.

As described above, the product information 310 d may include pricinginformation, for example, prices associated with the product and anyavailable design elements. In some embodiments, the design system 300may include a customer pricing function configured to calculate acustomer or retail price for the product, design elements, shipping,manufacturing costs, and/or any other cost associated with a product.For example, the customer pricing function may be configured to add apercentage of the cost from a supplier (for example, a “vendor price”)to generate a retail price that may be used as the price for the productsold through the design system (for example, a “retail price”). Forinstance, a funeral services provider may purchase a product from asupplier for $100. The customer pricing function may multiply the vendorprice by 1.10 to add a 10% increase to the price of the product that maybe sold to a patron, such that the product will be priced to the patronat a $110 retail price. In some embodiments, the customer pricingfunction may be enabled/disabled based on a condition, such as the useraccount logged into the design system 300. As such, a customer may viewactual prices when logged into a first account, on a first screen, orthe like and may view the augmented prices when logged into a secondaccount, on a second screen, or the like (for instance, when using thesystem with a patron).

The design elements information 310 e may include information associatedwith the design elements available within the design system 300. Thedesign elements information 310 e may include data, images, storageobjects (for example, electronic files) and/or the like. Non-limitingexamples of design elements information 310 e may include names,dimensions, characteristics (for example, available colors, materials,and/or the like), materials, physical characteristics, requirements,pricing information, affiliations (for example, whether the designelement is affiliated with a civic organization, religion, region, orpreference), and/or the like.

Design rule information 310 f may include information associated withrules, restrictions, combinations, affiliations, relationships, and/orthe like between various customers, patrons, memorial products, memorialproduct characteristics, design elements, and/or design elementcharacteristics. For example, the design rule information 310 f mayindicate that there is an affiliation, preference, or the like betweenmembers of a certain civic organization and certain design elements. Inanother example, the design rule information 310 f may includepreference information, such as whether certain customers and/or patronshave a preference for certain memorial products, memorial productcharacteristics, design elements, and/or design element characteristics(the “design inventory”). In an embodiment, the design application mayreceive preference information directly, for instance, through apreference survey. In another embodiment, the design application mayanalyze available information within the design system 300, such ascustomer information 310 a, patron information 310 b, and/or orderinformation 310 f, and may automatically generate preferences. Forexample, the design application may analyze the customer information 310a and historical order information in the order information 310 d todetermine that a particular customer and/or customers with particularcharacteristics have a preference for a particular memorial product (forexample, bronze plaques with images) or a particular layout and finishfor certain memorial products. In another example, the designapplication may analyze the patron information 310 b and historicalorder information in the order information 310 d to determine thatpatrons from a certain sales region prefer a certain set of emblems,inscriptions, and/or the like. In this manner, the design applicationmay “learn” customer and/or patron preferences from historicalinformation in order to improve product suggestions generated using thedesign rule information 310 f.

In an embodiment, the design application may be configured to provideaccess to all or substantially all of a design inventory to allcustomers. In another embodiment, the design application may beconfigured to restrict customers or particular customers from accessingportions of the design inventory. For example, certain items in thedesign inventory may be restricted by the owner of the particular designinventory element, due to intellectual property rights, non-competeagreements, competition concerns, and/or the like. For instance, amemorial product vendor may seek to sell certain portions of the designinventory to particular customers and certain other portions of thedesign inventory to a different set of customers. In another instance,certain of the design inventory may only be available to a customer or aportion of the customers in an effort by the memorial product vendor toprovide exclusive, specialty product lines to customers, or the like.Accordingly, the design rule information 310 f may include rulesidentifying particular customers that may access particular memorialproducts and/or design elements, as described in more detail below.

The foreign languages/symbols information 310 g may include translationsof text and/or equivalent symbols (for example,

in Europe for $ in United States) that may be commonly used by acustomer and/or patron. In this manner, the design application mayinclude a “translate” and/or “convert” GUI design object 215 a-215 cthat may automatically translate text and/or convert a symbol to aforeign language or equivalent symbol.

As shown in FIG. 3, the design system 300 may include various modules320 a-320 e configured to manage and execute certain functions for thedesign application. An automated design module 320 a may be configuredto generate virtual memorial products based on user input 330 to thedesign system 300 and/or the system information 310 a-310 f. The designapplication may include a user interface (see FIG. 4) for receivinginformation associated with the subject of the memorial product, such asthe deceased for a funeral marker, an honoree for a commemorativeplaque, an educational institution for a campus sign, user and/orsubject preferences, and/or the like. Subject information may includeinformation specific to the subject and/or preferences of the subject ofthe memorial product (for example, see FIG. 4). For instance, thesubject may include a deceased that is the focus of a grave marker orother memorial product. In another instance, a subject may include anorganization or other entity that is the focus of a sign or plaque.Non-limiting examples of subject information may include name, age,gender, religion, nationality, native language, marital status, familialrelationships (for example, whether the subject is a father,grandfather, brother, husband, and/or the like), organizationalaffiliations (for example, clubs, activities, civic organizations,public organizations or offices), vocation, education, and/or any otherinformation useful for designing a memorial product.

The subject information may be analyzed by the automated design module320 a, for example, using the design rule information 310 f, to generateone or more pre-configured virtual memorial products. The automateddesign module 320 a may analyze the subject information in combinationwith portions of the system information 310 a-310 f to generate thepre-configured virtual memorial products. The pre-configured virtualmemorial products generated by the automated design module 320 a mayinclude portions of the design inventory suggested by the automateddesign module 320 a as being likely to be of interest to the customerand/or patron based on the subject information, the design ruleinformation 310 f and/or the other portions of the system information310 a-310 e and 310 g.

For example, the automated design module 320 a may generate apre-configured virtual memorial product for a funeral marker productthat includes a textured bronze surface, an embedded vase element, thename and birth/death dates of the deceased, and a set of religioussymbols selected based on the subject information and the customerinformation 310 a. In this example, the subject information may haveindicated the religion of the deceased and the customer information 310a may have indicated the type of memorial product frequently chosen bypatrons of the customer.

In this manner, the design application may be configured to providedesign inventory configurations that are likely to be of interest tocustomers and/or patrons. The design inventory configurations generatedby the design application according to some embodiments described hereinmay more accurately reflect the needs and preferences of customersand/or patrons because, among other things, they are based oninformation supplied directly by the customer and/or patron and/or byhistorical information of past orders that are relevant to the customerand/or patron. As such, the design application may provide a productselection and design process that is easier, more efficient, andprovides an enhanced user experience.

The graphics module 320 b may be configured to generate realistic,three-dimensional graphical (“virtual”) representations of physicalobjects and the spatial relationships of physical objects based oninformation included in the product information 310 d and/or designelements 310 e information sources. In some embodiments, the graphicsmodule 320 b may provide functions for a user (for instance, a designsystem 300 operator) to create virtual representations or templatesthrough a template design function or application. For instance, a usermay be presented with various template elements, such as shapes,patterns, colors, or the like. The user may use the template elements todesign (or “draw”) a template that may be used within the system. Forexample, the user may design virtual representations that correspondwith certain products that may be accessed by customers through thedesign system 300.

In some embodiments, the design system 300 may access productinformation 310 d from third-party sources and/or internal data sources(e.g., enterprise and/or business analytics software, including, withoutlimitation, SAP®, Websphere®, or the like). The product information 310d may include data about a particular product, such as dimensions, modelnumbers, materials, or the like. The graphics module 320 b may beconfigured to analyze the product information 310 d and generate avirtual representation of the physical product being referred to by theproduct information 310 d. For example, the product information 310 dfor a particular product may indicate that the product is a gravestone,having specific height, width, and depth dimensions and is made from aparticular granite material. The graphics module 320 b may be configuredto analyze this information and to automatically generate acorresponding virtual representation of the gravestone. The virtualrepresentation may be saved and associated with the physical gravestoneproduct. A user may view and edit the virtual representation. In thismanner, the design system 300 may generate a virtual representation foreach product accessible by the design system 300 without requiring auser to create the virtual representation. As such, if a new product isinput into a product database, the design system 300 may automaticallygenerate a virtual representation (i.e., template) of the productwithout user intervention. The template may be stored in one or moredatabases for future use and/or editing.

The order management module 320 c may be configured to handle theordering process within the design application, including processingordering and payment information. For example, when a customer submitsan order, the order management module 320 c may perform certainprocesses to ensure that the order is correct and complete and totransmit the order to the correct destination for the production of thephysical memorial product.

The product file generation module 320 d may be configured to manage thecreation of storage objects in the form of electronic (“digital”) filesfor the virtual memorial products. For example, the product filegeneration module 320 d may be configured to save the virtual memorialproducts in various formats required by the customer and/or manufactureincluding, without limitation, XML files, image files (for instance,*.bmp, * jpeg, *.tiff, *.gif, *.png, and/or the like), Microsoft Visio®files (*.vsd), the Corel® family of software products, the Adobe® familyof software products, portable document format files, legacy fileformats, backward compatible file formats, or any other file type nowknown or developed in the future. The product file generation module 320d may be configurable to create storage objects in particular formats,such as proprietary formats, required by certain customers and/orpatrons. The reporting module 320 e may be configured to generatevarious reports for customers, patrons and/or the memorial productvendor related to memorial products and/or orders. For example, a usermay generate a report for one or more orders that includes informationsuch as price, shipping information, order status, memorial producttype, selected portions of the design inventory, and/or the like.

As depicted in FIG. 3, the design system 300 may be configured togenerate a virtual memorial product 340 (or, a storage object includinginformation associated with the virtual memorial product) based on userinput 330, including subject information and design inventory choicesselections and customizations, and system information 310 a-310 f incombination with the operation of various modules 320 a-320 e. Forexample, the user may select a “submit” button to finalize the projectand to begin the ordering process. The design system 300 may generate afinal virtual memorial product 340 responsive to selection of “submit.”Embodiments are not limited to the specific configuration of modules 320a-320 e depicted in FIG. 3, as these are provided for illustrativepurposes only. For example, the design application may include more orfewer modules 320 a-320 e and/or the modules may be combined to formother modules or as programs, subroutines, or the like of other modules.

The virtual design product 340 may be used by the customer and/or amanufacturer for various purposes, such as for printing or to produce aphysical memorial product based on the virtual memorial product. Amanufacturer may receive the virtual design product 340 in one or moreformats required for their particular production process. For instance,the manufacture may manually produce portions of the memorial product,such as through manual typesetting of text, carving, affixing designelements, etching, cutting, or the like. The manufacturer may print (acopy of) the virtual memorial product 340, project an image producedbased on the virtual design product onto the physical material that willbe used to create the virtual memorial product, and/or provide thevirtual design product to a computing device configured to automaticallygenerate the physical memorial product or portions thereof from thephysical material.

FIG. 4 depicts an illustrative subject information interface and apre-configured virtual memorial product according to an embodiment. Asshown in FIG. 4, a display component 405 may present a subjectinformation interface 410 configured to accept subject information 415a-415 e for the order. For example, the subject information 415 a-415 emay be associated with the customer or a patron of the customer this isthe subject of the memorial product or is otherwise affiliated with thesubject of the memorial product. For example, the order may be for afuneral marker for a deceased individual and the subject information 415a-415 e may be received from a relative of the deceased. In anotherexample, the order may be for a sign for an educational institution, andthe subject information 415 a-415 e may be received from an employee ofthe educational institution. In a further example, the order may be fora commemorative plaque for a business entity, and the subjectinformation 415 a-415 e may be received from an employee of the businessentity.

The subject information 415 a-415 e may include information concerningvarious aspects of the subject, such as names 415 a, dates 415 b,affiliations 415 c, relationships 415 d, and/or the product location 415e associated with the subject. The design application may use thesubject information 415 a-415 e to present a memorial product interface440 that includes a pre-configured virtual memorial product 430 (ormultiple pre-configured virtual memorial products). The virtual memorialproduct 430 may have been pre-configured, for example, by the automateddesign 320 a module. The pre-configured virtual memorial product 430 maybe selected and may include certain design elements 425 a-425 e selectedbased on the subject information 415 a-415 e. According to someembodiments, the pre-configured virtual memorial product 430 may begenerated based on the system information 310 a-310 f in addition to orin alternative to the subject information 415 a-415 e.

FIG. 5 depicts a customer account access interface and a customeraccount interface according to an embodiment. As shown in FIG. 5, thedesign application may present a customer access interface 510 to a useron a display component 505. The user may enter customer accountinformation, such as a user name 515 a and a password 515 b to accessportions of the design application associated with the customer account.For example, the manufacture or customer may be able to accessinformation limited to viewing by the customer or patron, such asprevious order information. In an embodiment, customers may only be ableto design and/or order products through the customer account. In thismanner, the memorial product vendor may be able to manage customerdesign and order access and/or choices. The design application maypresent a customer account interface 560 responsive to a successfullogin to the user account from the customer access interface 510. Insome embodiments, the design application may be configured to providevarious customer support features, including, without limitation,through the customer access interface 510 and/or the customer accountinterface 560. In some embodiments, the customer support features mayinclude, but are not limited to, real-time chat and screen-takeoverfunctions.

The customer account interface 560 may provide access to the customer totheir customer information 520 a-520 n and customer designs 550 a-550 n(for instance, suggested memorial products and/or design elements,portions of the design inventory, or the like) that the customer isallowed to use to generate virtual memorial products. In this manner,the design application may provide a customer with a “virtual showroom”through which they and/or their patrons may view available portions ofthe design inventory. In some embodiments, the “virtual showroom” (orany user interface provided according to some embodiments) may beconfigured to provide various files, visualizations, multimedia filesand/or presentations, representations, pictures, images, or the like.For example, the “virtual showroom” (or any user interface providedaccording to some embodiments) may be configured to allow users toaccess multimedia presentations (for example, audio/videopresentations), including multimedia presentations relating to thedesign system 100 and/or any information or products associatedtherewith.

FIGS. 6-22 depict various illustrative user interfaces for a designsystem according to some embodiments. For example, FIG. 6 depicts astartup interface for the design system from which a user, for example,may login to a customer account, view memorial products, or the like.FIG. 7 depicts an interface for entering order information, and FIG. 8depicts an interface for entering subject information. FIG. 9 depicts avideo interface in which various videos may be presented to customersand/or patrons regarding the process for designing memorial productsusing the design system. FIGS. 10-12 depict various types of memorialproducts. FIGS. 13-20 depict various interfaces for selecting,manipulating, and/or editing various design inventory elements. FIG. 21depicts an order submission interface, and FIG. 22 depicts an orderinformation interface for a completed order.

FIG. 23 depicts a block diagram of exemplary internal hardware that maybe used to contain or implement the various computer processes andsystems as discussed above. A bus 2300 serves as the main informationhighway interconnecting the other illustrated components of thehardware. CPU 2305 is the central processing unit of the system,performing calculations and logic operations required to execute aprogram. CPU 2305, alone or in conjunction with one or more of the otherelements disclosed in FIG. 23, is an exemplary processing device,computing device or processor as such terms are used within thisdisclosure. Read only memory (ROM) 2330 and random access memory (RAM)2335 constitute exemplary memory devices.

A controller 2320 interfaces with one or more optional memory devices2325 to the system bus 2300. These memory devices 2325 may include, forexample, an external or internal DVD drive, a CD ROM drive, a harddrive, flash memory, a USB drive and/or the like. As indicatedpreviously, these various drives and controllers are optional devices.Additionally, the memory devices 2325 may be configured to includeindividual files for storing any software modules or instructions,auxiliary data, common files for storing groups of results or auxiliary,or one or more databases for storing the result information, auxiliarydata, and related information as discussed above.

Program instructions, software or interactive modules for performing anyof the functional steps associated with the analysis of judicialdecision making as described above may be stored in the ROM 2330 and/orthe RAM 2335. Optionally, the program instructions may be stored on atangible computer-readable medium such as a compact disk, a digitaldisk, flash memory, a memory card, a USB drive, an optical disc storagemedium, such as a Blu-ray™ disc, and/or other recording medium.

An optional display interface 2330 may permit information from the bus2300 to be displayed on the display 2335 in audio, visual, graphic oralphanumeric format. The information may include information related toa current job ticket and associated tasks. Communication with externaldevices may occur using various communication ports 2340. An exemplarycommunication port 2340 may be attached to a communications network,such as the Internet or a local area network.

The hardware may also include an interface 2345 which allows for receiptof data from input devices such as a keyboard 2350 or other input device2355 such as a mouse, a joystick, a touch screen, a remote control, apointing device, a video input device and/or an audio input device.

It will be appreciated that various of the above-disclosed and otherfeatures and functions, or alternatives thereof, may be desirablycombined into many other different systems or applications. It will alsobe appreciated that various presently unforeseen or unanticipatedalternatives, modifications, variations or improvements therein may besubsequently made by those skilled in the art which alternatives,variations and improvements are also intended to be encompassed by thefollowing claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system for generating a virtual memorialproduct, the system comprising: a processor; a display device; and anon-transitory, computer-readable storage medium in operablecommunication with the processor, wherein the computer-readable storagemedium contains one or more programming instructions that, whenexecuted, cause the processor to: receive subject information andcustomer information, obtain, from a third party entity, one or morememorial product characteristics; generate at least one virtual memorialproduct based on the one or more memorial product characteristics, theat least one virtual memorial product comprising at least one memorialproduct template and at least one virtual design element selected basedon the subject information and the customer information, display, on thedisplay device, the at least one virtual memorial product, whereindisplaying the at least one virtual memorial product comprises:displaying a three dimensional (3D) visual representation of the atleast one virtual memorial product, providing a user with an ability tochange a spatial orientation of the displayed 3D visual representationto view each side of the virtual memorial product, and displaying avisual representation of a physical memorial product in an actualplacement location where the physical memorial product is to beinstalled, and generate an order for a physical memorial product basedon the at least one virtual memorial product, wherein the virtualmemorial product is usable by a manufacturer to print or produce thephysical memorial product.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the virtualmemorial product comprises at least one of a grave marker, a headstone,an urn, a vase, a plaque, a medal, a trophy, an award, a sculpture, astatue, a sign, a picture, a display, and a combination thereof.
 3. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the virtual memorial product comprises a castbronze memorial product.
 4. The system of claim 3, wherein the castbronze memorial product comprises a cast bronze plaque.
 5. The system ofclaim 1, wherein the at least one virtual design element comprises atleast one of a text element, an image, an emblem, a logo, a symbol, areligious symbol, a symbol of affiliation, a signature, a pattern, adesign, a color, a texture, and a computer-readable element.
 6. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the subject information comprises at leastone of name, age, gender, religion, nationality, native language,marital status, familial relationships, organizational affiliations,vocation, and education.
 7. The system of claim 1, wherein the customerinformation comprises information associated with a cemetery operator.8. The system of claim 7, wherein the at least one virtual memorialproduct is selected based on the cemetery operator.
 9. The system ofclaim 7, wherein the at least one design element is selected based onthe cemetery operator.
 10. The system of claim 9, wherein the at leastone design element comprises a border of the memorial product.
 11. Thesystem of claim 7, wherein the at least one virtual memorial product andthe at least one design element are selected based on the cemeteryoperator.
 12. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer-readablestorage medium contains one or more programming instructions that, whenexecuted, further cause the processor to: receive patron information,wherein the at least one virtual memorial product is generated based onthe subject information, the customer information, and the patroninformation.
 13. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer-readablestorage medium contains one or more programming instructions that, whenexecuted, further cause the processor to: receive patron information,wherein the at least one virtual memorial product is generated based onthe subject information, the customer information, and the patroninformation.
 14. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer-readablestorage medium contains one or more programming instructions that, whenexecuted, further cause the processor to: print or produce a physicalmemorial product based on the virtual memorial product.
 15. A system forgenerating a virtual memorial product, the system comprising: aprocessor; a display device; and a non-transitory, computer-readablestorage medium in operable communication with the processor, wherein thecomputer-readable storage medium contains one or more programminginstructions that, when executed, cause the processor to: generate avirtual memorial product in response to receiving a memorial producttemplate selection from a client logic device, wherein the virtualmemorial product comprises one or more memorial product characteristicsobtained from a third party, add at least one virtual design element tothe virtual memorial product using at least one design function inresponse to receiving at least one design element selection from theclient logic device, wherein the at least one design function comprisesat least one of a snap-to-grid design function, a target location designfunction, a collision detection design function, and a placeholderdesign function, display, on the display device, the virtual memorialproduct, wherein displaying the virtual memorial product comprises:displaying a three dimensional (3D) visual representation of the atleast one virtual memorial product, providing a user with an ability tochange a spatial orientation of the displayed 3D visual representationto view each side of the virtual memorial product, and displaying avisual representation of a physical memorial product in an actualplacement location where the physical memorial product is to beinstalled, and generate an order for a physical memorial product basedon the virtual memorial product, wherein the virtual memorial product isusable by a manufacturer to print or produce the physical memorialproduct.
 16. The system of claim 15, wherein the virtual memorialproduct comprises a cast bronze memorial product.
 17. The system ofclaim 15, wherein the target location design function is configured toselect at least one target location based on at least one of a template,a customary placement location, a placement of at least one othervirtual design element.
 18. The system of claim 15, wherein theplaceholder design function is configured to represent a virtual designelement not included in a system design element inventory.
 19. Thesystem of claim 15, wherein the computer-readable storage mediumcontains one or more programming instructions that, when executed,further cause the processor to: receive subject information and customerinformation, wherein the at least one virtual memorial product isgenerated based on the subject information and the customer information.20. The system of claim 15, wherein the computer-readable storage mediumcontains one or more programming instructions that, when executed,further cause the processor to: receive order information comprisinghistorical order information, wherein the at least one virtual memorialproduct is generated based on the subject information, the customerinformation, and the order information.
 21. The system of claim 15,wherein the computer-readable storage medium contains one or moreprogramming instructions, that, when executed, further cause theprocessor to: print or produce a physical memorial product based on thevirtual memorial product.